Section 115
Cost of discipleship
Perhaps Perea
Luke 14:25-35
25Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27And whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you who wants to build a tower does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see if he has what he needs to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who are looking on will begin to mock him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, when he is going out to confront another king in battle, does not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to face the king who is coming against him with twenty thousand men? 32If he cannot, he sends a delegation while the other is still far away and asks for terms of peace. 33So then, any one of you who does not give up all his possessions cannot be my disciple. 34“Salt is good, but if salt loses its flavor, with what shall it be seasoned? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Notes
Perea
Perea was the term used by the historian Flavius Josephus, and others, for a section of the territory east of The Jordan River, opposite Judea and Samaria. Although the word Perea is not found in the Scriptures, the area was mentioned frequently in the Gospels as the “land beyond the Jordan”. John the Baptist baptized in Perea, and was also martyred there at Herod’s fortress of Machaerus. Jesus Christ often visited Perea during His ministry, and had many followers from there, which at the time had a large Jewish population.
Jesus spent most of his final 3 months before Passion Week traveling around Perea, teaching in its towns and villages. Jesus had been in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22-39), and the Jews tried to stone him again. He escaped their grasp and went back across the Jordan into Perea for the final months before his crucifixion. During these months he taught his disciples about the cost of following him and he tried to prepare them for his coming death.
Today, most of Perea is in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.